Our View: Lavender Fest deserves its own weekend

Wednesday

Jun 19, 2013 at 10:52 AMJun 19, 2013 at 10:59 AM

If there were any lingering doubts that the annual Lavender Festival and the annual Secret City Festival can best serve our community by being held on two separate weekends instead of the same one, we believe that question has been put to rest … once and for all.

If there were any lingering doubts that the annual Lavender Festival and the annual Secret City Festival can best serve our community by being held on two separate weekends instead of the same one, we believe that question has been put to rest … once and for all.

The Lavender Festival deserves its own weekend.

And organizers of the 2014 Secret City Festival and future SCF events should respect the 15-year tradition of the Lavender event, and recognize the love and support it garners year after year after year from local supporters and residents — as well as those who visit the Lavender Festival from Knoxville and beyond.

Those who missed out on this past weekend’s Lavender Festival missed out on some wonderful food, music, arts & crafts, demonstrations, handshakin’ and much, much more. Kudos to Barbara Ferrell and all those who had a hand (and a heart) in putting together one of the finest festivals you’re likely to find anywhere and any place in East Tennessee.

For the first time in several years, visitors and residents did NOT have to travel back and forth from one spectacular Oak Ridge event being held in Jackson Square to another simultaneously being held in A.K. Bissell Park and the Civic Center.

And what about the vendors? This year, the various and varied vendors can participate in BOTH the Lavender Festival held this past weekend and the Secret City Festival being held this coming weekend. That could and should remain a key consideration in scheduling future events, and having the two festival on two separate weekends instead of the same is a win-win situation for all.

Positive word-of-mouth events and brass-tacks economic drivers such as the Lavender Festival don’t come along every day — or even every year for most communities the size of Oak Ridge or larger. We should embrace and fully support this annual event; and we should continue to set it apart from the other seasonal events that make Oak Ridge a unique destination for both visitors and residents alike.

Three cheers for the 15th annual Lavender Festival! We can hardly wait for the third Saturday in June 2014!!!